April Showers ...

Bring May Flowers

Our Peonies are taller than Freedom, and almost ready to bloom!
I'm thinking now that the Phlox is really Flax. That's what I get for not remembering what I plant and Google Image search isn't cooperating.
The lillies have popped up, so have the bleeding hearts. I was afraid that the second one had died, but it popped through! One is about a foot tall, the other one is maybe 4 inches tall.
I am a bit disappointed in the Hollyhocks. My Gram's were always tall and pretty. Mine are... short and stumpy. It's not quite May, so we'll see.
The lupine? Thanks to Krystal, I figured out what they were.
They're hanging in there. They seem short and stumpy too.

The biggest surprise?
The Shasta Daisies!
I didn't think they were going to grow since they were weed-eated (repetitively) last summer and an uber cold winter. I actually took some of the soil where they were planted out to plant the Bleeding Hearts. I was shocked when there were suddenly daises starting to grow along with them. Now to only remember where I put that soil.

This weekend, if the weather cooperates, I plan to do a little photo-tour of my plants.
I am slightly proud of the flowers this year!

Wordless Wednesday!

One Pound at a Time

While I was catching up on some blogs, I cam across another weight loss challenge.
This one is starting May1st 2010 over at This Mommy Works.
I need to something to motivate me. I've lost 80 pounds since the beginning of last year and have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds for the last month or so.





What are my goals?
I want to focus on fitness.
The challenge is eight weeks. Since I took a week off Couch to 5K, I would like to be finished with the program by then. I also have made myself the following goals

• Run two miles in 21:00
• 10 push ups in a min
• 36 crunches in a min 

Those happen to be the physical requirements for a 27 year old female to enlist in the US Military. No, I'm not joining, but it was my goal six years ago. Also, I am not 27 (nor was I then) but I will be in October.

While those aren't actually "pound" goals, I am sure that I will lose a few along the way. I still have 40 pounds until I reach where I "wish" I weighed. Trying not to end up "skinny-fat".

Oh, and I want to be able to do a pull up.

So if you have some weight you'd like to lose, head over to This Mommy Works and join in before April 30th.

Potty Training Time!

I think it's time!

Freedom will be two May 27th and is starting to show some interest in using the potty.
She has been randomly pulling her diaper off before she pees. When you catch her, and put it back on she pulls it off once she goes. Up until a few days ago, she was scared to sit on the toilet.
When Brye was a baby, we did elimination communication so I am trying to use those signals and cues with Freedom. The thing now is that she thinks that saying "Mommy, Potty, I peepee" is a game.

We went and bought her a cheap potty, so cheap the hinges already broke on the lid. We also bought some Gerber training pants.  They are the kind that are all cotton, but are more absorbent in the crotch.
I couldn't seem to find Brye's old ones, and thought Freedom might like her own. I am letting her wear those around the house and prefolds without a cover.
For now, she is content pretending to go potty and wiping herself.

Any tips for potty training a girl?

My Blog is Carbon Neutral

and yours can be too, for free!

"My Blog is Carbon Neutral" is such an easy way to help to environment.

“My blog is carbon neutral” is an initiative, originally started in Germany by the “Make it Green” programme, that has the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We plant a tree for your blog and thereby neutralise your blog’s carbon footprint for the next 50 years! Everyone can make a small contribution to the environment. Every tree counts!

Read more, and make your blog (or website) carbon neutral too!

Brye's Learning to Skateboard

Do we get a cool parent award?
Maybe.

Brye, who turned five in January, is obsessed with skateboarding. He wants skater hair, skater shoes and skater clothes. He begged us for the last few months for a skate board. My father-in-law found my old skateboard. I am my son's new hero.

I'm not the one who usually worries about knee pads and what not, but my head has bounced off the pavement. That hurts. The helmet was mandatory.

A Few (decent) Hair Days

Last Tuesday, as I was working an extremely boring shift, I happened to read Women's World. I used to always think those were the stupidest little magazines in the world. I mean the covers always have some miraculous new diet plastered on the cover. There is some good info in there though. How to reduce stress, boost energy levels, healing herbs and flowers. Oh, and the recipe for whiskey cake. yumm.

There happened to be a two page spread about blowing out your hair. Remember a few weeks ago I tried a few different ways to fix my hair? And I failed miserably...
This "blowing out" thing didn't look that involved. All I had to do was twist and coil my hair into four sections. Starting on the top, dry each section with a round brush. I guess it's general knowledge, but this is me... I am beauty illiterate. I tried it Wednesday morning. It made me realize how thin my hair is. The hair straighter was on standby.

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised!
My hair had body (or volume?) for the first time and the only hair product I used was TRESemmé Heat Protectant. I didn't even use the straightener. gasp.
I got a bit of wave, almost what I was going for last time.

C25K, Week Two, Day One!

Off to a good start with week two of Couch to 5K.
I found this blog through their forums which has some great podcasts. It still tells you when to run and walk, but the music is much better.
I also started using Sporty Pal. I was hesitant to use it at first, but endomondo kept messing up on me today. I think I like Sporty Pal better. It seems to analyze your workout better. Not only does it give you your max speed, but also your max pace. Oh, and you call install the Google Earth plug-in and see your workouts in 3D. It's free, and it works on most smart phones.
Enough with the geekery.

I feel like my endurance is getting better.
I didn't go for the whole 5K today.  I did the 5 minute warm up and cool down, along with the 20 minute intervals. The extra time was how long it took me to walk back to where I had parked. I'm going to try and time myself again this Friday to see if there is any improvement.
Since it's week two, you run/jog for 90 seconds and walk for two minutes. I kept a steady pace and managed the jogging intervals. Every time I was about to start walking early, I would keep going but count. Sure enough, I was like 10 seconds short of getting to the walking interval.

Here are the distances and totals so far:
W1D1 - (Didn't Work... Ugh)
W1D2 -  2.51mi/39m:10s
W1D3 -  3.26mi/51m:31s (5k@ apx 45 minutes)

W2D1 - 2.53mi/38m:16s

Two things I will try to remember next time:
- Write down time at end of the podcast
- Try Sporty Pal on "Running" instead of "Walking"

C25K, Week One, Day Two!

Ouch.
Turns out that my hamstrings weren't that badly hurt... Now the muscles above my knees, that's a different story. Using my mighty Google Image Search powers, I think it's called the Vestus Medialis. I'm not an Anatomy Major, so I really have no idea. All I know is that it hurts.

There weren't any diaper or sippy cup flingings today.
Freedom wasn't all that happy though. She saw another child playing and about the time I got her calmed down the trail would loop back and it would start all over again.

I was trying to get a start time for the 5K challenge on Traineo. For some reason, I had it in my mind that 5K was 2.3 miles. In reality it's more like 3.1. When my phone said I had reached 2.3 miles, I slowed it down and walked to the house for a total of 2.51 miles in 39 minutes. I am sure that if I had of realized that I was about a half a mile short of my goal, I would have stepped it up a bit. I also couldn't stop Endomondo every single time I had to stop with Freedom.

The huge hill wasn't as daunting this time, and I only had to run up it twice. I did cheat a bit. I counted the seconds that I walked up the hill (like 15-20) and did them when I reached the top while I was supposed to be walking.
Improvement, I think.
Two days ago, I walked that whole hill and didn't try to make up any of the running time.

I'm calling it 45 minutes.
Which makes me feel like crap. Granted I'm not in any type of shape, other than round, and have never been a runner. I really want to start focusing more on fitness now as I work on these last 40-50 lbs so that I don't become "skinny-fat"

C25K, Week One, Day One!

Today, I started The Couch to 5 K running program.

C25K, is a fantastic program that's been designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks.

I downloaded the pod cast to my trusty HTC Touch Pro 2.
The podcast tells you when to run and walk. The music is ... decent. Not my first choice but bearable.

Overall, I wasn't very well prepared.
I went to the "rinky dink" walking trail that is about a tenth of a mile from my house.  It's not well maintained, and it's all hills. The tree roots are starting to bust up the trail. It's nice that I can walk to it, but all the curves and hills are not that great with a jogging stroller.
About half way through the podcast, I realize that I have to pee... So much for hydration. To top it off, Freedom managed to get Bum Genius 3.0 off and tossed it into the woods. Followed by her sippy cup.
Somehow, the universe conspired against me and every 60 second jogging interval found me staring up a hill.
While I realize that this would help me in the long run, it's not what I want to be faced with on my first day.

Shortly after the diaper fiasco, I checked my phone and Endomondo wasn't working. On Traineo, I just started an 8 week challenge in which we are trying to improve our 5K times. Most of us have never run a 5K before and are just starting out with C25K.
With that being said, I had planned on using my phone and Endomondo to track the time and distance. I had a little less than 10 minutes left on the podcast, which I believe is 30 minutes. I had thought about just giving up, but the last 5 minutes was the cool down. I toughed it out (uphill) and finally walked home.

There are sore muscles that I didn't know were there. Or more specifically, never used. I think they are my hamstrings. I like to call it my bum/leg taint. For those of you who aren't aware of what a taint is, I link you to it's entry UrbanDictionary.com. As you may glean, if you brave urban dictionary, it's that part that's not quite my upper leg, but below my bum. Hence bum/leg taint.
Maybe it's one of those "You just gotta know me" things.

I guess I will have to wait until Wednesday to try and get a time (and distance).

Spring Flowers

What a surprise.
When I got home from work yesterday, I found that my tulips had bloomed.
My Mother-in-law gave me some petunias and snap dragons to plant and I am still trying to find a home for them.

I am really surprised at how much the flowers are changing from day to day. Maybe I just never paid that much attention?

Weight Loss Update!

Been thinking ... It's about time I update on my weight loss.
I'm weighed in at 185.6 lbs this morning. That means, I've lost 78.4 lbs in the last year.
I still feel really huge and I'm still fighting with the baby belly.
I've lost an inch in my waist. Everywhere else has seen about a .5 to .75 inch loss.
I had hit a plateau, and steadily gained for a while.
I buckled down on my diet and started to see the numbers go down again.
I bought a pair of capris that are sized 15/16 juniors. My jeans are size 15/16 and they are too big. Really wish that clothing sizes are a bit more uniform. Once again, my work pants are too big.

How Does My Garden Grow?

There still aren't any sign of the lilies that I plated last year, and I can't remember what a couple of the seeds I planted last year are anymore.
I remember buying Flox, Hollyhock, Lupine and ... something else.
Oddly, there is no sign of the Lupine.
For Mother's Day last year, I received some type of pink plant. It grew really great but I have no idea if it was perennial or not. My Dad was doing yard work last year and saved me a hosta. I had a flower bed that I tried all summer to grow Sunflowers in, but didn't have any luck. That's where it lives now.
A few weeks ago, I bought some Strawberry Fields Forever Day Lilies, tulips and bleeding hearts. Oh, and some 'Johnny Jump Up' seeds.
There are some Antique Peonies that grow on the edge of my yard from when my Mother In-Law lived here. I think they came from a neighbor.

So here we go, a photographic tour of my flowers.
There are a few other random shots of flowers in my yard too.